Thebaine is used commercially as starting material for the narcotic analgesics oxycodone and oxymorphone, the narcotic antagonist naloxone and the narcotic antitussive dihydrocodeinone. It can also be used as starting material for the narcotic analgesics codeinone, codeine and morphine, the narcotic antagonist naltrexone, and other medicinally useful narcotic and non-narcotic substances.
Thebaine, codeine and morphine are produced by the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). For commercial use, these compounds are obtained solely by extraction from opium or from opium poppy stems and capsules. They have been produced on laboratory scale by totally synthetic routes, but these syntheses involved many steps and very low overall yields, and were therefore not suitable for commercial production.
The biosynthetic pathway by which the opium poppy produces these compounds has been established and is presented below: